Trying to put together a surprise trip for my husband and gather as much info as I can. He loves to visit breweries/brew pubs/micro brews whenever we vacation. Are there any in NYC that we should check out?

Get over to McSorleys, for sure..

There are the Heartland Brewery locations, including one at the Empire State Building and another in Union Square. They have generic food and they are of the tourist-friendly genre of breweries.

www.heartlandbrewery.com

Brooklyn Brewery makes some fine beers, and they offer a tour.

http://www.brooklynbrewery.com/home/

Otherwise, I can suggest some excellent bars that offer a fine, wide-ranging selection of brew.

1.) d.b.a. -- 41 1st Avenue between 2nd and 3rd streets. Free bagels on weekends, I think. www.drinkgoodstuff.com

2.) Spuyten Duyvil -- 359 Metropolitan Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Artisanal cheeses, meats, and breads for food. Website is practically never updated, but here it is for directions/info purposes: http://spuytenduyvilnyc.com

3.) Blind Tiger Ale House -- 261 Bleecker Street @ Jones Street. http://blindtigeralehouse.com/

4.) Barcade -- not sure how old you guys are, but this place is a lot of fun if you're from the video-game generation. Excellent selection anyway, and not too too far from Spuyten Duyvil. http://barcadebrooklyn.com/

5.) Essex Ale House -- 179 Essex Street @ Houston.

Others will post with more.

Thanks for the replies. I found a Chelsea Brewing when I did a google search. Any good?

Chelsea brewery is OK, too not fantastic, but good - lovely location right on the Hudson with OK food. If you're coming in the spring/summer it can be very pleasant to sit on the outdoor deck quaffing a few.

Heartland has a few interesting beers, and makes some seasonal brews, but the food is as 2fat says, mediocre at best - full disclosure, the owner of Heartland is a good friend.


Brooklyn has a couple of artisanal brewerys - try a google search.

hop devil grill and the belgian room (adjoining places) in the east village have a super selection, and very reasonably priced yummy bar food.

Oh, if Six Point has tours or a bar (I don't think they do, and their website is under construction), check it out. They do some very excellent beers.

This site could be pretty helpful:

http://www.ratebeer.com/places2/map.asp?mid=19

Also, this

http://beermapping.com/maps/citymaps.php?m=newyork

Thanks for all the great help. I'll probably be telling my husband within the next few days about the trip, which will give him lots of time to check out all the suggestions and see what he'd like to do best. We're not so interested in eating at any of the places, I plan to stuff myself with as much pizza as possible while in the city. But he'd definitely like to sit and have a few before or after meals.

Any recommended great Irish Pubs??

How do you define great, BQ? Food, beer, ambiance, price? Meantime, murphguide.com has a list.

Brooklyn Brewery is a MUST. The tour is informative, and the beers are well done.

Also try a cask beer at Blind Tiger -- written up by Eric Asimov in the Times not too long ago.

Peculier Pub, a divey NYU hangout, has about 400 beers on its list.

I'd avoid Heartland.

Enjoy!

d.b.a does have free (and tasty) bagels on the weekends - an excellent spot for a beer.

My other favorite spot is Gingerman at 12 E 36th...66 beers on draft and a great bottle selection too. I prefer going in the afternoons when it's calmer/quieter.

www.gingerman-ny.com

(From the link, click on "cable or dsl" to get to the real website)

Yes, do try cask beer. Blind Tiger is not the only place to get cask beer in NYC, however. d.b.a has it, as does Barcade, Spuyten Duyvil, the Ginger Man, and various other places.

If you're interested, check these sites:

http://www.gotham-imbiber.com/

http://www.cask-ale.co.uk/us/index.html

Agreed with beanweb about when to visit Ginger Man. It is obscenely crowded at night, so afternoons are best.

Here's the NYC page within the Cask Ale Pages site.

http://www.gotham-imbiber.com/nyc-cask-guide.html

Here's the NYC page within the Gotham Imbiber site.

http://www.gotham-imbiber.com/nyc-cask-guide.html

Oh, I love the Peculiar Pub! For a nice little Irish place I really like Molly's if you're in that area http://mollys.ypguides.net/ Very, very good food. Downtown I really like The Full Shilling. Great food and people but I'm not sure they're open on weekends.

There was just an article in the New York Times travel section about local beers. It was the weekend in NY column. you should check that out too.

Sorry, my "great" request is for music.